US Recognizes IAF Aircraft Certification

The final approval was received recently Three American branches have recently acknowledged the IAF aircraft certification and qualification processes. The reason: Permitting joint activities such as formation flying or landing in the US

Nadav Berger | Translation: Eden Sharon

Three branches of the United States Armed Forces have recently acknowledged the IAF’s processes of certification and aerial qualification for its aircrafts. Every flying aircraft has to be approved by an official authority. In Israel, the civilian aircrafts are approved by the Civil Aviation Authority while the military ones are approved by the IAF itself, more specifically, the IAF’s aircraft engineering department.

Over the years, the flight sciences branch of the aircraft engineering department started a new project in which the regulations of aircraft certification and aerial qualification were renewed and upgraded. In the same time, representatives from the US Army, Air Force and Navy approached the IAF in request of undertaking those processes. The application was made as part of a comprehensive cooperation of the US with its security partners.

The aim of the process is to ensure the safety of the US’s joint activities with other forces, such as the landing of Israeli aircrafts in the US, Flying American forces in Israeli aircrafts and joint formation flying.

Meeting the Highest StandardsDuring the past year, representatives from the three branches have learned all about the aircraft certification and aerial qualification processes of the IAF. They met with relevant officials in the IAF headquarters and field units such as the Aerial Maintenance unit in the Tel-Nof Airbase.

“It was important for them to be familiar with the initial certification processes of a new platform as well as the processes of maintaining the aircrafts’ aerial qualification”, explains Major Lior, who leads the project with the Americans. The final approval was recently received with the American officially stating that the IAF aircraft engineering department is meeting the American standards of aircraft certification.

“Unlike other countries, where the approval is given for one specific platform, we got a comprehensive recognition of our qualification processes, which means that every platform approved by the IAF is automatically approved by the Americans”, adds Major Lior. “We are very proud of the recognition and it proves that our qualification processes meet the highest standards”.